Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1887-01-31

How the Almost InuuucrabIe Bisons
Have eecn Swept From tlse Plains.

from the Newark IN j. Advertiser.
Within the memory OF iddle-aged men no one
could cross the continent OF North America any
"heTe south OF the fOTty-ffth parallel and north
o. fh In" or the ella river without encOunterfng
vast herds Of the American bison SO numerous
we've Ar-e animals that they were often a nui-
s1Dce and an obstruction 70 the weak bands of
entrants whose white-covered wagons sprinzled
tte great plsins. The innumerabe herds de-
-tr1Fcd the grass on which the way farer depended
u sIS ain his oxen and horses What they did not
es,j their huge hOots beat Into the earth Often
tn track OF a great column OF migrating bison
4 brood hclt or brown de.OiatiOn in the midst
OF the verturouS plains A stampede or bison
has been known 70 SwvepOyer little camp OF emil
C--rr.t~ trIppligg into undfStf naruiShable ruin
every article anG every object, living orinanimate.
Nhe1 the territory o. Kansas was first settled
thosn who laid out their ''claims" on the western
end OF that now prosperous state were harasSed
~ the herbs that swept over their unfenced plan
tafiJus Ob.itC-.ffnsr every growing thing.
Last september the Smithsonian Institution sent
hi, crrafurc-tne BO5 Arnerfcanus-and after a
LONG ant we1rtsorle search, thirty animals were
found hidden away In the wiidS OF Montana
trembling refugees, one may say, from the once
iIuuiner7 bic hOrrieS that covered the continent.
tyf these TWENTY-FIVE were killed. The other i've
escaped with their lives. They Will be hunted as
c1IrpSltits- BY the end Of another year the Ameri
can bison VIII Oe an extinct animal
Nncn We 5dFd this extinction OF a once almost
unnGHbcrrd hH5i OF animals we get clearer idea
OF what has happened In The domain of natural
history Since Lft human race TOOK possession OF
the globe. Man marks the earth with ruin, says
tat poet. The superficial surface OF the orb on
which we live u crowded with the bones Of the
creatures he hes slain. And. In our own country,
q lew hunted and tim0rous representatives OF some
OF the larger animals, bison, caribou, mountain
sheep anu antelope, survive in the mountain fast
HF>-t-S OF ia" Northwestern territories In a very
IsT wears ali Of these will share the fate OF the
bS0n and Will be hunted for in vain. IL is Idle,
however, to waste any Sentimentdlity on this
Wip3nG cut of native animals. The earth was
made Tor man, and melancholy though the fate OF
these noble AMI picturesque creatures may be- they
When the wilderness is suhdued the wild things
in II must needs go out with the end OF solitude
aud waste.
IL was d common thing In the early days OF Cali
fOFnia eIni Grafton TO soc the plains dotted with
the asses OF bison killed i'm mere wantOnneSS
and lett for beasts and birds OF prey TO fatten on
In course OF time, when the living herds had been
swept from the earth, the bone hunters, the last
sweepeEs-up OF a race, crept over the plains with
wagons in which they gathered the Whltend
relies OF the dead bison To be ground into phos-
pilates 70 Iertilize the earth that had nOuTiShed
Them But the END had 10 come; the ANAL act has
been hurried. ana mans WdotetulneSS has been
depiGTIDie, Dut inevitable. III IL were possible II
would bI pleasant 10 have some "a these creatures,
CtstluctiVely American, lett as curious examples
UI their race. Bat, other than mere curiOSitteS,
they would sIIbserye useful purpose. In the
divine economy that has male provision Tor the
wants Ot the OI man this splendid animal has
filird his mission. AID his end mas come. When
the game supply of The wilderness Is gone that
other wild creature, the red man, VIII Be tamabie.
And the day OF the American savage, aa Sucn, sGeS
out with the bison. The elk, the WIZ sheep anu the
1ast-IlSdppc,lTluS deer